A fresh air supply device which supplies a supercharged internal combustion engine with fresh air usually comprises a filter element, which is arranged in a filter compartment, and a charge-air cooler, which is arranged in a cooler compartment. For charging the fresh air, the internal combustion engine comprises, for example, a compressor or an exhaust gas turbocharger, which has a supercharger coupled with a fresh air system of the internal combustion engine and a turbine in drive-connection with the supercharger, which turbine is integrated into an exhaust gas system of the internal combustion engine.
From DE 196 04 738 A1 a fresh air supply device is known, which contains in a shared housing the filter compartment for receiving the filter element and the cooler compartment for receiving the charge-air cooler. Here, the housing is constructed so that an air stream supplied to the housing is divided in the housing into two partial streams. The one partial stream flows through the filter element, whilst the other partial stream flows through the charge-air cooler for cooling the charge air. For this, the one partial stream, after it has flowed through the filter element, is directed out from the housing and is supplied to a supercharger of an exhaust gas turbocharger. From the supercharger, the supercharged fresh air, i.e. the charge air, arrives back into the housing and flows through the charge-air cooler, from which then the cooled charge air is directed on to combustion chambers of the internal combustion engine. The efficiency of such a fresh air supply device is comparatively low with regard to the cooling capacity which is able to be achieved, if a compact type of construction is aimed for.
From DE 27 38 293 A1 a further fresh air supply device for a supercharged internal combustion engine is known, in which in a shared housing the filter element and, downstream therefrom, the charge-air cooler are arranged in a shared interior of the housing. The air purification in this fresh air supply device therefore takes place after the supercharging.